Growing Food

Micro Greens

A Read-Along Activity

S50_Header_OscarSowingHisSeeds
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Having read the story a couple of weeks ago about the teddy bears sowing seeds, Oscar decided that he too wanted to grow something, but wasn't sure he could wait as long as the other bears would be doing for them to turn into edible plants. Katy said she would get some seeds for him from the Garden Centre when next she went. Well he might have to wait several days for her to go out and his paws were just itching to get going, so Katy made a special trip and came back with some seeds called Micro Greens, which are like very tiny salad leaves, and they should grow very quickly - she knew how impatient he was for results!

S50_01_FillingTraysWithCompost
Filling Trays With Compost

Oscar looked long and hard at the packet and suddenly thought "I don't know where to begin!" so he rang his friend Boo and asked if he could come over to show him what to do. "Of course" he said and the next day he turned up and off they went to the greenhouse. "First you need a tray" Boo said "and some compost".

S50_02_FilledTraysWaitingForSeeds
Filled Trays Waiting For Seeds
Once Oscar had found these they set to work filling the trays with the compost and putting them in a tray of water to moisten them (apparently seeds like to be damp - unlike teddy bears!).

"Now we need to sow the seeds" said Boo. So next they opened the packets and put some seeds in their paws. They sowed one lot of seeds in the green tray and the other lot in the black tray so they would know which was which.

S50_03_BooSowsHisSeeds
Boo Sows His Seeds
They had to sow them fairly thickly (so the packet said) and then just give them a spray with some water each day. Boo and Oscar had such fun and they did get a little bit wet when they were spraying the seeds (Oscar was sure that Boo was aiming at him deliberately but Boo said that it was just that his aim was off!) but it was a hot day and they didn't mind too much.
S50_04_TraysFilledWithSeeds
Trays Filled With Seeds
Plus, Oscar managed to spray Boo back as well!!

The next day, just before he left, Boo told Oscar that he would have to keep his eye on the seeds to see if they were growing (apparently they are ready to eat when they are about 2" to 3" tall). The very next day Oscar could see that some of the seeds were already beginning to sprout and he couldn't wait to see them grow more.

S50_05_SeedsAreGrowings
Seeds Are Growing!
He telephoned Boo straight away to let him know that it was working, the seeds were growing!

Every day Oscar took out his tape measure to check on the growth of his plants and a week later they are nearly ready for cutting. Now he just has to think how he is going to use them - perhaps in a sandwich or sprinkled onto some nice fish? Mmmmmm!

S50_06_YumYum
Yum! Yum!

Now that they have nearly grown enough to cut, it's time to sow some more so that he has a continuous supply. Oscar is wondering if Boo wants to visit again!

Perhaps you could ask if you could grow some seeds that you could then eat. It's great fun! And very yummy too!! Micro greens are very quick to grow, so you can eat them even sooner!